Spy school in China
by TheRightStuff1950
Summary: The title's kinda self-explanatory.
1. Chapter 1

**So, just a quick note before I began this story. In case you're wondering what happened to Spy school's gone. I'm taking a little break with that. I sort of wrote myself into a corner so I'm trying to figure out what to do next. Anyway, enjoy the story and please, if you can, review.**

The final bell rang, school was, finally, out. Finals week was always nerve-racking and stressful beyond belief. Bomb defusal, war games, strategic tests, trying to remember what the five essential points of counter-espionage were. I had managed to get through this one of a kind hell, though, and was looking forward to a week off. We didn't get the summer off as spy school also had a torturous summer program.

My leg winced as I walked down the hall, I had barely passed the "Withstanding torture test". Which was obvious to everyone that is was just an excuse to let older students practice their techniques. Some of the more experienced (And arguably smarter) of my peers managed to pass without stepping one foot into the room. They had either made up excuses, exchanged threats, or simply bribed the teachers.

"Stop acting like a little baby." A voice said behind me. Erica.

"Come on, if you had to be stuck in a concrete bunker for 5 hours straight being tortured by the strongest person in the 6th year, you'd be limping too." I shot back. Erica had been one of the smarter ones. Yet she, unlike the rest, didn't even have to lift a finger. Her reputation did all of the work for her. Erica Hale was the most experienced and best spy in the whole school. Cold, cunning, and insanely beautiful, she was to be the top pick for important missions when she graduates.

"Well, you should've done the same as the rest of us." She replied.

"Why are you here?" I asked her, trying to avoid the subject of the finals. Yet, I was also curious. Erica never struck up a conversation without having a very important reason for it. She wasn't the people type, going as far as to try and avoid them. However, when she needed to be, she could change her personality to the point where she's unrecognizable. This, along with her many talents, earned her the nickname "The Ice Queen" by Zoe.

She started to walk towards the entrance to one of the many tunnels that lay beneath the school. I followed her as we made our way to a massive conference room that I had never seen before. With high ceilings and pristine marble floors, it caught the eye. Yet the size of the room actually worked against it. Instead of awing and impressing me, the lack of people in the room instead made it feel awkward and uncomfortable. Only two other people were in the room. Cyrus and Alexander Hale.

"What took you so long?" Cyrus demanded as we took a seat.

"This idiot sitting next to me was limping the whole time." Erica pointed to me. My self-esteem was already low sitting next to the Hales as they constantly shot it down, yet this still hurt. I had a massive crush on Erica, and the words, no matter how true, still killed my excitement to be sitting next to some of the greatest spies in the US. (Alexander was a sham, however).

"Hey!" I yelped, even though my self-esteem was non-existent, I was still trying to preserve the last once of my pride as well. "Come on, I kept on with you, and you were walking fast."

"This isn't the time for excuses, Ripley. Own up to your mistake." Cyrus said. Even though he was one of (and possibly the) greatest spy ever in the CIA, that didn't mean that his personality was great. He could be a 1st class jerk sometimes, and it turned out that this was one of those times.

"Listen, dad," Alexander said, coming to my defense. "It's a hard test, and they _did_ get here on time."

"Everyone, stop!" Cryus cut in. "We don't have the time to be messing around on who got here on time or if someone was limping, so cut it." Even though he was being hypocritical, I accepted it anyway.

"So," Cyrus continued. "I guessing that you know why you're here." He took a look at both of us. I nodded, eager to hear more. "You will be sent on a fully authorized mission, to Asia, or more specifically, China." He then handed us the mission dossiers. I opened it with a pocket knife that I kept on me at all times. Even though I sharped it regularly, it was still extremely difficult to open it. When I finally managed to complete the herculean task, a plane ticket fell out, as well as a massive amount of cash, a phone, a sim card, a passport, a watch, a micro earpiece, sunglasses, and a letter.

To Ben Ripley,

You have been selected for operation crouching tiger. Enclosed will be needed items as well as instructions on how to use them. Along with 70,000 RMB, roughly equivalent to $10,000.

Your mission is to infiltrate the Shang's corporate and political headquarters, located in Beijing, China. We have reason to suspect that they are funding SPYDER. In case you forgot, you have had experiences with Jessica Shang, who now runs the place.

Little information is known about them, and none of it relevant to your success.

Good luck,

Agent Ribbon.

Central Intelligence Agency.

"So…" I uttered. Everyone looked at me. I stuttered, growing more nervous each second. "Th-tha-that's it?" I asked, my voice shaking from fear. "Th-there's no more information on them?"

"Well, what more do you expect? A highly detailed book on what they do in their daily lives, what their organization does, and how to beat it?" Cyrus asked, sarcastically.

"Yes." That had been exactly what I expected.

"Too bad for you then. So y-" Cyrus started, he was then interrupted by the door slamming open. Zoe ran in and took a seat next to Erica.

"Sorry I'm late." She panted, putting down her backpack.

"No problem," Alexander said. My jaw hung open, shocked. Even though Zoe had been with us on missions before, she had never been officially apart of one.

"You're here too?" I asked her.

"Yeah, pretty cool eh? Received an email today and, well, here I am." Zoe replied. Cyrus handed a dossier to her. She opened it and sifted through the contents. She then nodded.

"Does everyone understand the mission?" Cyrus asked us. We all nodded. "Ok then, dismissed."

Everyone quickly got out of their seats and went out into the tunnel. Zoe caught up with me as we were leaving.

"Isn't this great!" She exclaimed. "We get to be on another mission!"

"Yeah." I sighed. Following Erica out of the tunnel. I didn't have the same enthusiasm as Zoe. Before, I had nearly died. On all of my missions.

I didn't feel like continuing that legacy, especially going to a foreign country.

"What's wrong?" Zoe asked as we exited out of the tunnel system. She had detected the tone in my voice.

"Well, I'm not all that happy about being on yet another mission," I said.

"Another mission?" A voice jumped out of the bushes. Mike.

"Well, not really," I said, trying to desperately cover up my mistake. Yet Mike wasn't buying any of it.

"Dude, you've gotta let me come," Mike said.

"Well, I'm not that sure. And they didn't tell us that we could bring along friends…" I stalled.

"Please?" Mike pleaded. I shook my head. "Can I at least see what flight you're on?"

I showed him my ticket. He nodded and then ran off.

"Well, I better get started on packing," I said.

I started walking back to the dorms, Zoe followed me. The sun was still bright outside, as it was only 4:00. I decided to try out the new sunglasses. I jumped back immediately when I saw them. It showed the word: scanning. Then the words faded and were replaced by two video feeds on at the top left of the screen, on in a bag. Labeled at the top Zoe. And the other showing Erica brewing a poison. The center was clear. I maneuvered my eyes to the exit "button", scanning them, The sunglasses turned back into functioning like, well, normal sunglasses.

"Wow," I said, turning to Zoe.

"What's up the with sunglasses? They're just sunglasses, right?" Zoe asked me.

"Just put them on," I said. She searched through her bag and found them, she then put them on and had the same surprise as me.

"Wow! The CIA's really improving on their tech." Zoe said. I nodded. We entered the dorms.

"Well, I've gotta pack," I said, slipping into my room. I quickly threw my shorts and t-shirts in my suitcase, as well as my phone charges and an array of weapons I barely knew how to use. Finding that I had finished much sooner than I had expected, I decided to try and see what else I could do with the sunglasses. I put them on, then tried to move my eyes to the options menu. It had one feature on it. I turned it on and then decided to take a walk through the school. A student walked past me, looking at her, I found that the glasses gave me all that the CIA knew about her.

I took the glasses off, then decided that I would need some sleep before the mission began. I walked back to my room and closed my eyes.

- **line break** -

I was awoken to Erica shaking my shoulders.

"Come on, wake up already." She said. I sat up and looked at my clock. 3:00. We weren't supposed to go to the airport until 5:00. And the plane wouldn't even leave until 7:00.

"Why," I asked, "Are you waking me up so early?"

"Plans changed, Plane's leaving at 5:00," She said in her standard icy tone. "I even texted you about it."

I took a look at my phone, and sure enough, at 2:00 in the morning, she texted me about the flight change.

"Listen, not everyone is awake at 2:00 am." I began, yet Erica cut me off.

"No time for excuses, get your stuff, we're moving out." She said. I followed her through the school and spotted a cab waiting for us. I put my stuff in the trunk and got in. Erica took the front seat, and Zoe sat next to me.

It took us only a half hour to get to the airport, once we were there, we quickly checked in and went through airport security. As there were no lines, it went extremely fast. Soon we were on the plane, flying to Beijing China.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here it is! The second chapter of Spy School in China. Sorry if it's kinda short, I've been busy lately. Anyways, without further ado, here it is.**

The 12-hour flight was uneventful. As was the hour-long car drive to our hotel from the airport. The whole day, in fact, was quite uneventful. We checked in and went into our room. The CIA didn't give us crappy rooms, yet they did make us share one. Luckily, we were able to find a 3-bed room.

When we finally entered the room, I jumped onto the closest bed to me.

"Hold on, We're not done yet for today," Erica said. She set her stuff down onto the last bed.

"What do we need to do now?" I asked.

"You do know what we're supposed to be doing right now, right?" Erica asked. She raised an eyebrow.

"Uh… Yeah, yeah," I said, "Pffft, of course, I know what we're supposed to be doing on the mission I didn't forget about on the ride."

"So then, where are we going?" Erica asked.

"Uh… The science museum of Bejing?" I asked, picking a random location I once heard about on the news.

"No, not even close." Erica sighed, "you know what? I don't have the time for this. Zoe." She turned to her. Zoe sat up from the bed she was laying on, she nodded. "Zoe, you go explain the plan to Ben. I've got to get ready."

Erica walked over to her suitcase, she grabbed it and moved to the bathroom. Zoe then turned to me.

"So, you know the Shang building right?" Zoe asked me.

"Uh…" I racked my brain, thinking that I must have heard it somewhere. But still, it came up blank.

"Did you do _any_ research before the mission?" Zoe said, with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"Uh…" I said. This time, instead of searching for information, I was stalling as I had not done any research and just didn't want to admit it.

"Ok, we'll start from the beginning." She paused for a minute. "The Shang building is in the main commercial center of the city, headquarters of the Shang business empire, blah blah blah. The Shang family is hosting a ball tonight. We're going."

"And the plan is…?" I asked.

"Well… While everyone is having a good time at the ball, we'll take the stairs to the 60th floor, to Jessica's office. Then as I stand guard, you and Erica infiltrate the office, get the information we need. Send it to the Chinese government, they arrest Jessica, take the Shang empire, and mission over."

"That's it?" I asked, not able to believe that our plan was that simple.

"Yeah, any questions?" Zoe said.

"How formal is this?" I asked.

"Black Tie."

"Small problem: I don't have a tux." I had never owned one in my life.

"Lucky for you, I took the liberty of buying you one." Erica emerged from the bathroom wearing a gorgeous dress. She opened up her suitcase, grabbed a tuxedo and tossed it over to me. I caught it, amazed. "Go put it on in the bathroom. Don't take to long. Party starts in 45 minutes."

"So 7?"

"Yeah," Erica said. I paused for a while. "Go in now, we don't have all night."

"Thanks," I said as I was walking to the bathroom.

I put it on and admired the craftsmanship of the people who made it. I exited the bathroom 5 minutes later. Erica nodded at me.

"Zoe, you put on your dress. Then we're going." Erica said. Zoe obeyed her command. I walked over and sat on the couch in our room. "You have your earpiece and sunglasses?" Erica asked me.

"Uh… No, I should probably get that shouldn't I?" I said.

Erica nodded. "Yeah."

I grabbed my things. I then sat back down on the couch. I sighed as I closed my eyes, hoping to get at least a few minutes of rest before the ball.

"Whoa, hold your horses there," Erica said when she saw me attempting to sleep, "We're not done yet." She tossed me a fully loaded utility belt. "Put that on."

I took a look at it. "A gun?" I asked.

"Just in case, but whatever you do, don't shoot us," Erica said. I quickly placed on my utility belt. By the time I was done, Zoe had finished putting on her dress. "Alright, let's go." Erica stood up and walked out the door. I sighed as Zoe and I followed her.

When we finally pulled up to the Shang building, I was extremely tired. Yet I continued on anyway and followed Erica's lead. A doorman greeted us at the entrance.

"Hello. Welcome to Jessica's 14-year-old ball. Invitations, please." The man said in English with a thick accent.

"Ooh, I'm sorry but we lost them," Erica said, completely changing her personality.

"Ma'am, I am so very sorry but only clients with invitations can come into the party." The man said.

"That's too bad, but could you just do me this one favor?" Erica cooed. She was now turning the charm up to a hundred. She inched closer to him, batting her eyes.

"Uhh.." the doorman uttered. His eyes moved wildly. You could almost see the battle going on in him. Was he to stay true and loyal to his employer, or to let this one exceptionally beautiful girl and her friends in? "Ma'am…" He started, but Erica brushed her hand against him. The man's eyes opened wide. The battle was over. She started walking toward the entrance. The man made no move to stop her. Seeing this Zoe walked through as well and I quickly followed.

"Wow, well that was nice of you," Zoe said sarcastically.

"Ok," Erica said in her standard icy tone. She had changed her entire personality a second time immediately. It really was quite amazing. "Listen, what else was I supposed to do?"

"You could've been nicer to that poor guy," Zoe said.

"It was the only way to get us in."

"No there must have been a better way." Zoe rebutted. Erica didn't answer her with words, instead, she gave such a icy stare that the temperature seemed to drop.

"Hey! If it isn't Ben Coolman here." Jessica walked over to us. "Nice of you to come to my party."

"Yeah. A big one you're having too." I replied.

"Hi, Sasha," Jessica said to Erica.

"Hi, Jessica, what a fun party you're hosting right now," Erica replied.

"Yeah." Jessica's tone seemed to fall. "Well, I'm going to go mingle with the guests, nice seeing you guys!"

"Bye!" I shouted back.

Once Jessica was far away for her not to be able to hear what we were talking about, Erica said, "Ok, time to initiate the plan." We all nodded and made our way to the elevator. Erica stepped in first and pushed the '60' button. The doors closed and we all waited nervously, hoping that the Elevator wouldn't suddenly stop. Yet the cables held and soon we were right in front of Jessica's office. "Zoe, you stay out here." She nodded.

When we entered the room, Erica immediately headed straight toward the computer. She logged into it with no problem. "Ben, you sift through her cabinets." I nodded. I then took a look at it and found a problem right off the bat. There was a lock on it.

"There's a lock on it." I murmured.

"You remembered how to pick locks, right?" Erica said, it was obvious she was becoming extremely annoyed at me.

"Yes, but I don't have any picks!"

"Take a look at your utility belt."

I found them and quickly opened the cabinet. I heard the sounds of fighting outside. They found us. A shot was fired. And the door opened.


	3. Chapter 3

**Well... I'm thinking of making a schedule. How 'bout every Friday? Anyways, here's the chapter.**

Jessica walked in with two bodyguards at each side of her.

"Ben!" Jessica said in shock, "I didn't think you would be the security threat that the guards told me about. Oh no, you're here with the CIA!"

"What… Nah… Why would we? Pfffft, of course not." I tried to sell the lie as hard as I could, although I was in a lot of stress. That along with the obvious fact we were searching through her things made for a difficult lie to tell.

"Well, then why are you here?" Jessica asked, not buying it for a second.

"We… Er… We were…" I said, not able to make up another thing. Erica sighed in disappointment. My heart sank. I was going to get both of us killed.

"Don't even try to lie," Jessica said. The other guards pulled out their guns. I took one last final look at Erica, desperate.

 _Please tell me you have a plan…_ I mouthed to Erica. She just stood there, none-moving. Then within a second, she attacked both guards, defeating them. Seeing this, Jessica ran for it.

"Don't try to stop her. She knows this place better than you do, and she'll definitely call up more guards. You got anything?" Erica said.

"No," I replied.

"Well, then we better get out of here." She said, calmly. She walked out in the hallway. "Zoe," She yelled. "We'd better get out of here."

She then stopped in her steps. I followed her out. There was one problem, however. Zoe was gone.

"We've gotta-" I started.

"No, we can't. We don't have enough time and this skyscraper's massive." Erica interrupted to walk down to the stairs. I followed her. Only 20 seconds later, we heard voices from below. Erica immediately turned and started to climb the stairs.

"I think they're this way!" A voice from above said.

Erica looked around. "Here!" She pointed to a hallway and started running.

"So what's the plan?" I asked, following her.

"Get out," Erica replied.

"Well I know that, but how?" I asked her. Hoping she had a real plan.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Erica said. Guards emerged from a doorway at the end of the hallway.

"Stop!" They yelled. Erica started to run the other way, yet guards emerged from that end as well. Jessica walked in.

"Really, do you know when to give up?" She asked.

"No," Erica replied.

"Well… Guess this is the end for you guys. Although I do have one question. How? How did you know?" Jessica said. The words hung in the air for a few seconds.

"Well…" Erica sighed, she walked to the glass half of the hallway. "We've always known really." She looked down. Her eyes widening the smallest bit. Any person who hadn't been around Erica wouldn't have noticed it. Erica turned to Jessica and walked by my side. My heartbeat increased tenfold. "But I guess that's a story for another time."

At that, she took my hand and jumped through the window, shattering it. Time slowed to a standstill. I turned my head to Erica. She just kept looking down. I looked around. The skyscrapers slowly rose, the sunset. I then followed Erica's lead, looking down. Then it hit me.

The ground hit me. Or I guess more accurately, _I_ hit the ground. It wasn't as painful as I expected. Erica jumped up. I managed to get up as well. Then, the first shot pinged off the floor beside me.

"Snap out of it, we still need to get out," Erica yelled at me. I took a second to look around. Turns out we had only fallen ten feet. We were still several hundred feet away from the ground. We ran over to an open door on the balcony. We traveled down the staircase once again. Erica pulled out her gun. I did the same.

A sole man appeared across the corner, yelping he ran the other way. We continued to race down the steps, hoping that no other guards would block our way. We made it far… up, or more specifically, down to the lobby. It was there that 2 guards started to shoot at us.

We took cover back behind the receptionist's desk, throwing her out. Erica took a few potshots at the guards, hoping to scare them off, yet they stayed where they were. Not moving an inch. Deciding to push my luck, I lept out of the desk and shot one guard in the leg, causing him to fall down in pain, with the other I didn't have as much luck. Yet I did manage to nip him in the arm. I ran out of the skyscraper, with Erica following me. We hid in an alleyway while the local police force stormed the building.

"So what's the plan now?" I asked her, panting. The adrenaline started to wear off.

"Well…" Erica stalled. She obviously didn't know what to do next.

"Well?" I asked her.

"Let me think for a moment will you?" Erica said.

"I'm just-" I started.

"Just what? You know, how about you try to make up a plan for once? Why don't ya? And while you're at it, why don't you continuously rescue your partner because of his incompetence?" Erica's voice started to rise.

"Come on now… You're stressed-" I said, trying to comfort her.

"I'm stressed?" Erica said… "Yeah, you think? I'm stressed 24/7."

"I understand…"

"Understand? No. You've never experienced what _I_ have to go through on a daily basis. No. It's all just 'gee, I hope I pass that test', or 'wow, I've got the tiniest bit of homework', No."

"Well, what is it that you're stressed about?" I was becoming scared. She was starting to get a bit mad.

"Things like these…" Erica said, "I have to rescue everyone. When anything goes bad, I always get blamed. And when I save everyone's lives, I never get the credit."

"You do get some credit."

"Yeah. I'm always behind you. I never get the credit I deserve. You're always praised for figuring out what SPYDER does and for 'defeting' them."

"Well, I do figure out their plans…" I said. Tensly. I knew this was going to add fuel to the fire, yet I couldn't help myself to point it out.

"You know what? I'm tired of your crap." Erica said in a menacing tone. "If you don't shut the hell up, right now, I'll slit your throat." There was an edge to her voice. She gave me a terrifying stare. I quickly shut my mouth and backed away from her. Seeing this, she became even angrier.

"I just-" Erica started, yet she quickly fell to the ground, silent. A dart was stuck in her arm.

"Guess we meet again." A voice spoke behind me. I turned around. Joshua.


End file.
